Battle High School's marching band has placed second at both of its competitions so far, which director Robert Thalhuber said he thinks is an accomplishment considering the band's size and newness. The band practices every weekday from 7 to 8:30 a.m.

The Venerable Pannavati Bhikkhuni, who spoke at Columbia College on Tuesday, received the 2008 Outstanding Buddhist Women's Award and, in 2009, was commended for her humanitarian efforts by Her Royal Highness Princess of Thailand.

St. Louis attorney Brad Ketcher proposed a ballot initiative that would allow the public to vote on whether the student representative on the UM System Board of Curators — or other public universities in the state — will have the ability to vote.

A case scheduled to be heard by the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday could move federal campaign law closer to Missouri. McCutcheon v. Federal Election Commission seeks to throw out the overall limits on what a donor can contribute to all party committees, political action committees and federal candidates in a two-year election cycle.

Doctors do not always order laboratory tests to diagnose patients with tick-borne illnesses, such as Lyme disease, before treating them with antibiotics. So there's no way to determine how many cases there actually are. One thing is certain: Some tick-borne illnesses increased this year in Missouri.